More than Just Friends
by CentaurPrincess
Summary: Hermione thinks there is more to Harry and Acquila's friendship than meets the eye. Neville agrees. But Ron is as oblivious as ever. Set in the Black Bond universe. Birthday gift for Nerdman3000!


**Author's Note:** It's **Nerdman3000**'s birthday today. We tried out best to get the new chapter done, but lack of time and discovering a couple of loopholes in the scenes didn't let us get all the writing done :(

So, we thought of writing a one-shot. And here it is! We really hope you like it, **Nerdman3000 **:-)

**Disclaimer:** Harry Potter belongs to J K Rowling. We own nothing

**oOoOo**

**More than just friends**

"This makes absolutely no sense!" grumbled Ron. "I don't know what else to write anymore—and I need to write four more feet of the essay."

"Read your notes again, Ron," muttered Hermione, shaking her head, as she wrote her own essay on Cheering Charms.

"What notes?" exclaimed Ron. "I haven't taken down any notes! Give me yours… please, Hermione."

"Here, take mine," said Neville, handing him his own notes, possibly foreseeing that Hermione wouldn't let Ron borrow hers without some protest. "I doubt you can make out my handwriting—"

"Can't be worse than mine," said Ron, grinning as he began perusing the notes.

"Neville," sighed Hermione. "He'll never learn to take his own notes at this rate—"

"Oh, let him be, Hermione," said Neville, as Hermione rolled her eyes. Ron never completed his homework on time and on his own. Harry had been similar to Ron in their first year, but with Remus teaching Acquila and him in the holidays, Harry took his studies a little more seriously now. Ron, though, was still the Ron of old: grumbling irritably about doing homework, forever borrowing her notes and essays to copy off them, playing Hangman in class with Acquila rather than listening to Flitwick… He never paid attention in class, never seemed to want to study, but he always complained about his low grades.

She turned to Ron, making to give him yet another talk of how important their third year syllabus was, as it laid down the basics for performing advanced Charms and Spells in future years. But the words died in her throat as she looked at the redhead. Ron was staring at Neville's notes, mouth slightly open, a little crease on his forehead, his hair all tousled as he'd run his hand through it earlier, and his face scrunched up in confusion. He seemed oddly cute, though, she realised, feeling her stomach flopping suddenly – something she hadn't ever felt before… almost like a little butterfly fluttering in her tummy. The fluttering of the butterfly's wings only seemed to increase as Ron suddenly noticed her staring at him and flashed her a goofy grin, before he went back to staring at the notes.

"Ahem," Neville cleared his throat, eyeing her with an amused glint in his eyes. And Hermione blushed, quickly looking away from both the boys.

She could still feel Neville's eyes on her; but Ron, oblivious as usual, began writing away.

"Did you understand the theory behind the charm, then, Ron?" Hermione asked him a moment later, still not meeting Neville's eyes.

"Yeah," muttered Ron unsurely, scribbling away on his parchment. "But I can tell you one thing for sure: this Cheering Charm isn't cheering me up at all!"

Hermione chuckled involuntarily, flushing red again when Neville grinned teasingly at her.

Goodness! _Why _had she smiled at Ron's stupid joke! It wasn't even a joke, really! But yet, she realised, she always laughed at all his silly jokes, at his goofy antics. He wasn't really intelligent, nor as smart as some of the other students were. But Ron, somehow, always made her laugh and smile. Even their frequent bickerings, when she looked back at them, made her smile for some strange reason.

Merlin! She was sounding just like one of those teenage girls from the trashy novels Lavender read! Acquila had recently begun pulling her leg about Ron. But Hermione had always protested, saying her fellow Gryffindor was exaggerating things. But it was suddenly beginning to look like Acquila had been right all along!

"Where's Acquila?" Hermione asked, suddenly realising that she hadn't seen the girl.

"Must be somewhere with Harry… where else would she be?" replied Neville, a knowing glint in his eyes.

Hermione nodded, her thoughts meandering to the duo. It was strange just how stupid Harry and Acquila were behaving. Harry, she knew, definitely liked Acquila. Hermione had seen the way his eyes lit up when Acquila was around, how he flushed a faint pink whenever Acquila kissed his cheek, how irritably he behaved when Acquila was around Cedric. There was the little matter of Harry getting rather close to Daphne Greengrass recently. But Harry's face didn't break into that wide grin when he saw Daphne; he was never as comfortable, as happy around Daphne as he was with Acquila.  
Harry always seemed happier when Acquila was around, whether it was when she tickled him incessantly in the Common Room, making him laugh uncontrollably, before they both fell to the floor in a tangled heap, trying to tickle each other, cheeks flushed pink, eyes bright, uncaring of all the whispers and teasing that broke out around them, or when he absently drew circles on the back of her hand, not even realising how his hand almost always found hers when they sat together on the Common Room couch, that tiny little smile on his face.

Acquila, too, liked Harry – Hermione was _sure _of that. No matter how much Acquila giggled over Cedric's charming words, no matter how she always sneaked glances at the Hufflepuff, or how she smuggled out Harry's Invisibility Cloak to go for that midnight stroll with Cedric, Hermione knew she liked Harry a lot more – even though Acquila never admitted it for some insane reason. Whenever she got mad at Snape's rude retorts in class, Acquila would only ever seek out Harry, not Cedric. Even when Cedric and she kept staring at each other during mealtimes, half of Acquila's attention always seemed to be on Harry: passing him the gravy before he had even asked her to, always saving a big piece of treacle tart from Ron's hungry hands for Harry because it was his favourite, fussing over Harry when he had (intentionally?) choked on the Pumpkin juice just when Cedric had come to their table to talk to her, forgetting all about the waiting Hufflepuff as she patted a coughing Harry's back and worriedly cast a hurried Throat Clearing Charm at him…

Neville put his books away, and walked to the window, smiling when he spotted something.

"What is it?" asked Hermione curiously, joining Neville at the window, as Ron followed them. The day was very bright and warm – perfect for a picnic in the Hogwarts grounds. Students were all around the grounds and by the lakeside. However, Hermione quickly spotted the reason for Neville's smile: it was Harry and Acquila, of course. They were sitting by the lake, shoes kept aside, dipping their feet in the lake waters. There were students all around them: some sitting in groups, some with books, some sitting alone, some couples stealing quick kisses… But Harry and Acquila seemed to be in a world of their own. Their hands were clasped yet again, fingers entwined. Acquila was chattering about something, her hand that wasn't in Harry's moving animatedly as she seemed to be indignantly explaining something to Harry. Harry, though, seemed to be just gazing at Acquila, nodding, but not quite taking in a word of what she was saying, with that love-struck expression that he sometimes got when he stared at Acquila – or that's how it seemed to Hermione from that distance.

But Neville seemed to be thinking on similar lines, too. "He _so _fancies her," he said, chuckling. "And she fancies him, too… I've noticed."

"Yes!" agreed Hermione, mighty pleased that she wasn't the only one who had noticed that. If Neville had formed the same conclusion, then she was undoubtedly right! Harry and Acquila _did _fancy each other.

"F—fancy?" Ron sputtered suddenly, mouth stupidly open now, eyes wide.

"Yes," said Neville slowly. "Of course they fancy each other—haven't you noticed?"

"They don't!" exclaimed Ron, still seeming shell-shocked, before he let out a strangled sort of laugh. "Of course they don't! They're just friends—"

"They're not, Ronald," put in Hermione, wondering _how _Ron could have missed something as obvious as that. Hell, even the twins always teased Harry and Acquila, calling them 'lovebirds'. Even Oliver Wood – who only ever thought about Quidditch – had called Acquila Harry's girlfriend! So how on earth had Ron, who was_ so_ very close to Harry, who shared a dormitory with him, not noticed that Harry and Acquila liked each other romantically?

"They _are _just friends, Hermione!" retorted Ron, now snorting in amusement. "_I'd _know! Harry's my best friend—I'd have noticed if he began _fancying _Acquila!"

"He _is _your best friend, but you wouldn't have noticed anything even if he kissed Acquila in front of you!" exclaimed Hermione, as the tips of Ron's ears began turning red.

"Harry k—kiss Acquila?" sputtered Ron again. "That's just—ugh! They are _just friends_! Nothing more!"

"Ron," said Neville, shaking his head. "You don't really notice such things, do you, mate?" Neville shot a glance at Hermione as he did so, smirking at her.

She shot back a glare at him, as he visibly suppressed a chuckle. Merlin! If Neville knew of her crush—was it a _crush? _Did she really have a crush on Ron?

"Hey, that's not true!" said Ron, seeming mighty offended. "I _do _notice things, all right?"

"Then how don't you know they fancy each other? It's very obvious that they're more than just friends," said Neville.

"Oh please, have you seen Acquila with Diggory?" said Ron, snorting. "She goes all pink around him—she acts like Hermione used to act around Lockhart!"

"Hey!" exclaimed Hermione, her face heating up yet again. "I don't fancy Professor Lockhart!"

"Yeah, right," Ron snorted. "That's why you used to sleep with his picture under your pillow! I heard Parvati and Lavender gossiping about it—"

"I didn't!" protested Hermione, swatting Ron on the head with a rolled-up copy of the Daily Prophet lying nearby. "And we were talking about Cedric, not Professor Lockhart!"

"Yeah—Acquila fancies Cedric," said Ron, making a face.

"She does like Cedric, but then every girl in the school likes him," said Hermione. "He's handsome, charming, a Prefect, and a Quidditch player—but Acquila likes Harry for what he is—because she knows him in and out—"

"What do you mean every girl in the school likes Diggory?" demanded Ron, seeming as if he hadn't at all listened to her sentences that had followed. "Don't tell me you like him, too!"

"No!" exclaimed Hermione, wondering whether it was a faint hint of envy she detected around Ron, while Neville was now chuckling openly.

"Thank Merlin!" exclaimed Ron. "I can't have all my friends fawning over Diggory. Can't stand that git…"

"Hmm," said Hermione, feeling a slight disappointment at the 'friends'.

"I admit Acquila likes Cedric, but Harry definitely likes Acquila," said Neville. "After all, he purposely sabotaged Cedric's chance of asking her out in Hogsmeade."

"Oh yeah," muttered Ron, frowning now. "Maybe you're right, then—but, hey! Harry likes Greengrass! You told me he sits with her for Ancient Runes—and he even danced with her at Sirius' party! And he goes all red when she's around—"

"He does like Daphne," admitted Neville. "But he likes Acquila more, I'm sure."

"No, no," said Ron. "Acquila fancies Cedric, and Harry likes that stupid Slytherin. I'm sure… you both are just going mental—"

"Mental?" said Hermione. "Look at that, then."

She pointed to the lake, where Harry and Acquila now sat far closer to each other than they earlier were. Harry's arm was around Acquila's waist, while she had rested her head on his shoulder.

"They're just sitting—" began Ron, before he stopped abruptly, watching Acquila's head slightly rise up from Harry's shoulder as she pressed a kiss to his jaw, just below his ear, her lips lingering on him for a rather long moment, something in the action seeming so very intimate that Hermione involuntarily looked away.

"See!" exclaimed Neville triumphantly. "She doesn't kiss all her friends like that! Just Harry!"

"Yeah," whispered Ron, seeming slightly dazed. "You're right… they're more than just friends…"

**oOoOo**

**A/N: **There! We're not at all used to writing one-shots – our _long _chapters probably tell you that! But hope this was an enjoyable read, especially for you, Nerdman3000! The next chapter of Black Bond should certainly be out by the end of the month at the latest.

Thanks for reading! :-)


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